Daft Punk Made A Video For The New Chic Record

Since Nile Rodgers guested on Daft Punk’s massive hit “Get Lucky,” it makes sense that they’d return the favor. After announcing It’s About Time, the first new Chic album in 23 years via Twitter, he’s begun teasing a video that Daft Punk made to accompany the record

Daft Punk made a touching film for my new record-Here's a still from it #SoulTrain #disco #funk @nilerodgers teaser pic.twitter.com/XHXNMijAuN
— Nile Rodgers (@nilerodgers) February 21, 2015

Given the #SoulTrain mention, it’s likely Daft Punk’s contribution is related to the video for first single, “I’ll Be There,” which you can preview below.

That video (which is still a few weeks away) was directed by fashion photographers Inez & Vinoodh (they did Lady Gaga’s “Applause”) and stars Karlie Kloss, according to a blog post from Rodgers earlier this week. That’s her in the image up top. It wouldn’t be the first time Kloss worked with the robots.

Here’s what Rodgers writes about the Chic song, video, and album…

The music snippet that’s playing was supposed to never be heard. That’s the reason why it’s crossed out with a red x on the track sheet (image on the right).

When I listened to that track, I liked the fact that it was never heard by the public before. As you can see on the track sheet we replayed that song, and it became a song for Sister Sledge called “Love Somebody Today.”

The outtake became a new song called, “I’ll Be There,” so named because when I discovered my band’s co-founder Bernard Edwards’ body a few hours after he’d passed away, I said, “Now, I can be there for you in death, the way you were there for me in life.”

Back in the day ‘Nard always looked out for me. I was the reckless one. We had lots of fun and good times. So on the song’s surface it’s really happy. It’s about the origin of CHIC, and how dance music changed our lives forever.

We’ve just shot the video for “I’ll Be There” with Inez & Vinoodh, on the first day of Fashion Week NYC. Perfect timing for a group called CHIC.

It’s also perfect that we’ve got one of the hottest and coolest supermodels in the world to star in the video. Karlie Kloss. The first thing she said when we met was, “Diana Ross’ album Diana is my favorite record in the world.” I knew we’d found our R&B loving disco girl.

As with all CHIC albums, this one’s based on a concept. Four years ago I was stricken with very aggressive cancer and I wasn’t sure how much time I had left. I decided the album’s concept would be about time and I’d feature as many people from the lifespan of CHIC that I could on it.

The first single drops on March 20, 2015. It’s the vernal equinox – when day and night are of equal length. But in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, there will also be a total solar eclipse… so I’ll be releasing the record at the exact start of that celestial event, in the country and city where they set Greenwich Mean Time – London, England.

We’ll then do a series of concerts in England, and premier the video too.

The album’s title is: It’s About Time… because It’s About Time.

“I’ll Be There” (with the Martinez Bros.) is out 3/20 via Warner Bros.